Chinese father dresses as Peppa Pig to sell pancakes to pay for daughter’s medical treatment
Eye-catching stunt is intended to raise money to treat four-year-old’s diabetes
A man dressed as Peppa Pig has been selling pancakes on the streets of a city in northern China in an attempt to raise money for his four-year-old daughter’s medical treatment, Qilu Newspaper reported.
Zhou Yingfang, 35, moved to Jinan in Shandong province to raise funds to treat his daughter’s diabetes and has been working odd jobs.
Because his home is famous for its pancakes, he decided to start selling them to supplement his income.
Most evenings he puts on the eye-catching outfit and takes a motorised pedicab carrying the snacks onto the streets accompanied by his 10-year-old daughter and a handwritten placard outlining the family’s plight.
The second daughter was diagnosed with Type I diabetes two years ago. The family already spent 230,000 yuan (US$36,500) on treating her illness, 160,000 yuan of which were borrowed from their friends and relatives.
“She was diagnosed with the condition in October 2016. At that time, she was just two years old,” Zhou told Pear Video in a film posted online on Wednesday.
“But now, she has to go to hospital because her condition has worsened. She faints regularly, feels week and nauseous.”
“I really don’t want to give up on her,” his wife said, breaking down in tears.
The girl has been receiving regular insulin injections and the family monitors her blood sugar levels up to eight times each day. But despite this she has suffered complications, possibly due to her young age.
The girl has been treated at the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) several times after fainting, the father said. She is also in danger of losing her eyesight and having her leg amputated.
The family lives in Juncheng county, 180 kilometres (112 miles) away from Jinan, but periodically relocate to the provincial capital because they get better medical treatment there.
The mother and father along with their two daughters and one-month-old baby are currently staying in a room that is just 10 square metres in size.
Zhou said he expected the girl’s disease would cost them another 200,000 yuan to treat.
“So many Good Samaritans come to buy about 10 yuan of jianbing but give me a lot more money and tell me to keep the change. Some do not take the jianbing. Their actions have truly moved me, I am very grateful,” he added.
